final

PLAYER RATINGS (1=POOR, HARD, WEAK 5=EXCELLENT, EASY, STRONG) [N/A=not done] SUMMARY VALUES SETUP BIT NOTES AND COMMENTS DSD? D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s TIME PERF? SETUP TIME = START DOWNLOAD TO PLAY Win10 5 5 5 1 3 4 2 4 3 4 4 3.64 1.29 3 1 03:10 yes yes Very light (<20M RAM), fast & easy; basic player w/ many plugins, effects (e.g. 10 band EQ), LADSPA, echo, speed/pitch shift, MacOS resampling/converting; GUI based on XMMS & can be reskinned; great 5 5 5 1 3 4 2 4 3 4 3 3.55 1.29 3 1 01:20 no To 24 for managing multiple ; loads tracks fast; does DTS & some MC; Colibri D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 The DAC/DSD test download (which I used) is free & has a player in it. MacOS MacOS 4 4 3 3 4 5 3 3 4 3 4 3.64 0.67 1 0 too long yes yes The full package costs $5 & may be worth it to some. I found the GUI to be a little weird; SQ’s quite good but not tops; ONLY Linux Wine Cantata D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s A very nice “player” (actually an MPD front end) w/ great art & info Win10 5 5 5 4 5 2 4 4 5 4 4 4.27 0.90 5 0 02:30 yes yes displays plus strong collection-based library mgt. Light (<200M RAM), MacOS fast, clean GUI. No longer KDE, only . Will play & rip CDs but only on Linux; SQ is that of MPD - the 2 make an excellent open source player Linux 5 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 4.55 0.52 6 0 02:10 yes yes for audiophiles willing to configure MPD; SQ is up there with the best Wine Daphile D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Fine player (based on Squeezebox) has many features; only drives USB 5 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 5 3.55 0.82 2 0 06:10 yes yes DACs – no other options; web streaming seems limited to named installs with its own sources – I couldn’t find a way to play by URL. Plays from RAM; browser Linux-based OS on controlled, headless; flexible config has more steps than many; installed x86_64 machines on both AMD Ryzen and Intel i3 core boxes with identical results;

DeaDBeeF D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 5 5 5 3 1 4 3 2 2 2 4 3.27 1.42 3 1 03:55 no yes Very fine – on Linux! Lightweight, flexible, nice GUI, great SQ, multiple playlists, looks & feels almost as good as it sounds – on Linux! Windows MacOS version is weak in comparison & won’t do native DSD. There are many Linux 5 5 5 4 1 5 4 4 4 4 5 4.18 1.17 5 1 02:35 yes yes better alternatives for Win. Wine Dopamine D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 4 4 4 3 1 3 4 4 3 3 4 3.36 0.92 0 1 04:50 no yes limited file support but great looking GUI; heavy memory use; does static Windows MacOS playlists well but requires great tagging (which it does not do for you); ONLY Linux Wine Elmedia D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Elmedia suggests QuickTime on steroids to me; free version is fine for Win10 TBD (Windows version is described on Eltima Software website as about to be released) 0 0 most audio use - “pro” version has better flexibility & web functions but MacOS 4 4 4 2 1 3 3 4 2 2 4 3.00 1.10 0 1 endless no ? costs $30; bland GUI with the usual info and functions, but no more than that. It does play FLACs and sounds good. But unless you want its video Linux capabilities, I think there are many better choices for an audio player; Wine Fidelia D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Seems like an iTunes substitute, sounds OK but only goes to Redbook MacOS Win10 0 0 spec on my virtual machine setup. Seems bit perfect up to Redbook ONLY – & MacOS 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 2 2 3 2.91 0.54 0 0 05:20 yes no when set up right, but I don’t think most audiophiles would like it as much as many others unless it’s a lot better on a native Mac platform than it is no iOS Linux 0 0 on VMware and Virtualbox; not great with tags or playlists; versions Wine 0 0 D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s The grand old man is a bit more complex than many; it’ll do almost Win10 4 5 3 3 4 4 3 4 5 5 5 4.09 0.83 4 0 04:45 yes yes anything & do it well – stream from & over the web, rip & play CDs, edit tags, bit perfect hi res, MC, etc. SQ is excellent when set up right. Not the MacOS easiest to use, many plugins are outdated – but over 100 are great. Need Linux plugins for DSD & many other hi end functions, but all are available & Wine 4 5 3 3 4 3 3 4 5 5 5 4.00 0.89 4 0 too long yes yes most work well. GmusicBrowser D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s not great for most audiophiles; self-described as “..a Win10 customizable open source jukebox for large music collections”; LINUX MacOS fast & easy; displays & tags big collections well, but load/scan ONLY Linux 4 4 4 3 1 2 4 4 4 4 4 3.45 1.04 0 1 01:00 no yes taxes CPU; too many options we don’t want or need; You have to love it to use it. But it sure was fast to load, install, and set up! Wine GogglesMM D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 simple, light, basic player with modest but pleasant library and art LINUX MacOS capabilities; the player’s “volume control” appears to control the ALSA volume setting directly; ONLY Linux 5 5 4 3 1 5 3 3 2 2 4 3.36 1.36 3 1 04:00 no yes Wine Guyadeque D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 Guyadeque is a resource-friendly, popular, tried & true Linux-only player still under active development; huge libraries are no problem – it makes a LINUX MacOS great “juke box” player for unattended background and general listening; ONLY Linux 5 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 3 3 4 4.18 0.75 4 0 02:40 no yes many audiophiles will want more than it does; Wine Jajuk D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Fast to load, install & configure – a very nice & flexible player. Provides Win10 5 5 5 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4.18 0.60 3 0 03:25 no (?) yes great info like artist discog, bio, etc (in Wikipedia and artist views). Good web radio / stream playing. Runs on Win, Mac & Linux; Linux instances MacOS N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0 0 require JRE rather than JDK runtime environment – did not spend time Linux Requires specific JREs on Linux – could not open Jajuk on 3 machines with JDK 0 0 fixing on 3 platforms; probably worth the effort only if you want the info displays; Wine N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0 0 D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s A media player out of XBox with JEOS that does audio well; most Win10 5 5 5 2 5 4 3 2 4 4 5 4.00 1.18 5 0 03:50 no yes standard formats + PCM to 24/384 & MC; it’s really for HT / video more than audio, but you don’t have to use the rest; most flexible audio output MacOS 5 5 5 2 5 4 3 2 4 4 5 4.00 1.18 5 0 04:05 no yes through HDMI limits DAC choice; FLAC via USB from Rpi sounds with JEOS or Linux 3 4 4 2 5 4 3 2 4 4 5 3.64 1.03 2 0 07:10 no yes excellent; I don’t think most instances update though – you have to as app on download and reinstall most Linux & Mac; some distros Wine Lollypop D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Latest version has attractive, flexible, intuitive GNOME GUI (now also Win10 with responsive formatting); earlier instances were much less user LINUX MacOS friendly; add ppa to download & install, but fast & easy to use once set ONLY up; according to my DACs, it cuts everything above 44.1 to that Linux 5 5 3 2 5 4 4 4 3 3 4 3.82 0.98 3 0 07:10 no to RB resolution but is bit perfect up to it using ALSA & Jack. Wine MediaMonkey D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win only! MM has some nice features, including a slightly different GUI Win10 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4.27 0.47 3 0 04:05 no no that some may prefer; it’s not really an audiophile player though – limited Windows MacOS formats (e.g. no DSD); handles large libraries well & is an impressive tagger; GUI is quite flexible for content if not appearance; another player ONLY Linux with more video than audio capabilities, but fine for & CD; Wine Moode D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Raspberry GUI is slow and difficult with big file collections; sounds great like other Pi ONLY – top quality Pi players; web interface looks & works fine; excellent web image radio streamer; uses MPD as back end, so SQ can be excellent if set up includes R Pi 3b+ 5 5 4 3 5 3 3 4 3 4 5 4.00 0.89 4 0 07:35 yes yes properly (which is a bit tedious, but not that hard and worth the effort); OS MPD D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Like Foobar, MPD is a proven computer audio icon that evolved over Win10 WIN 10 BLOCKED MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS TO INSTALL – REPORTEDLY WORKS LIKE LINUX VERSION BUT I DID NOT PERSIST years into an excellent program; it’s only a back end & requires a client player to make music, manage & display library content etc; config can MacOS be tedious (eg have to change a file line & restart to go fom DoP to native Linux 5 5 3 N/A 3 5 N/A N/A 5 5 5 4.50 0.93 6 0 19:45 yes yes DSD & back); docs say it now does MC (I did not try it myself); great choice for Beaglebones! Wine MusicBee D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Great GUI, art & info w/added web sources; SQ very fine; easy to use; Win10 5 5 4 4 4 3 5 5 4 4 5 4.36 0.67 5 0 02:50 yes yes robust tagging capability; MC to 5.1; Wine is more hassle than it should MacOS be; yes, once you get it right it will run many (although far from most) Win apps on a Linux box (can use ALSA & Jack). I don’t bother unless it’s an Linux app I really can’t live without. I really like MusicBee on Win10. Wine 2 2 2 4 4 3 5 5 4 4 4 3.55 1.13 2 0 endless yes yes Musique D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Very nice GUI, cross-platform player looks & works very well; sluggish - Win10 5 5 5 2 1 4 4 4 2 2 3 3.36 1.43 3 1 02:05 yes no 35 minutes to scan 10k track library folder; did not try on Mac because MacOS virtualization was taking too much time & web reviews are consistent with my findings on Win and Linux; another good player that’s probably not Linux 5 5 5 2 1 4 4 4 2 2 3 3.36 1.43 3 1 02:27 yes no going to delight most audiophiles; Wine Pine Serious Mac audio player does 32/768, SACD, DSD; simple but very MacOS Win10 usable GUI; great sound through well chosen audio system; getting it up ONLY – MacOS 5 5 5 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 5 4.00 0.89 4 0 forever yes yes and running on my virtual Macs was a little challenging, but not because of the player; I suspect it’s excellent on a real Mac – I may have to buy no iOS Linux one just to try some of these! versions Wine D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Light Winampish Qt player, small & simple GUI; many skins & PIs out Win10 there; quick & easy from start to play; good streaming w/ PI; EQ toggles on/off but gain control always active, so may be bit perfect at 100% gain, MacOS but “slider” has no scale & stops short of end; so I just can’t tell without Linux 5 5 5 2 5 2 2 3 2 2 3 3.27 1.42 4 0 02:31 no ? extensive, time consuming tests that would have made this comparison take 3 more months; Wine QuodLibet D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Easy to use but fairly basic; album art but no added info; Linux install is Win10 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 3 4 4 3.64 1.03 2 0 02:00 yes ? GTK+, which limits flexibility a bit. Handles large libraries well but without much sophistication in display options. Bit perfect if set up for it MacOS ### ### (WASAPI, ALSA, optimal gain controls etc); great tagging; audio config a Linux 5 5 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 3.82 0.75 2 0 03:55 yes ? bit more complex than others in Linux; I think it’s downsampling DSD but can’t tell for sure Wine ### ### D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Pretty bland overall -simple to set up but not a high end audio machine. I Win10 had no functional problems, but there are many online reports of crashes with large libraries. Sound quality is limited by its capabilities, although MacOS equal to most others for lower quality source files. Very good for Linux 5 5 5 3 4 4 2 3 2 2 4 3.55 1.21 3 0 02:28 no no & but, again, only low res (mp3 & Redbook OK). In Linux distros – easy install Wine RuneAudio D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s SBCs A very nice player with JEOS; uses MPD backend & can be set up for bit ONLY – perfect play and DoP (MUST disable volume control); Beaglebone Black image is a bit light in the processing department for high res, big library includes R Pi 3b+ 5 5 5 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 5 3.91 0.94 4 0 03:45 yes yes maintenance etc; OS BboneBl 5 5 5 3 2 3 3 4 3 3 5 3.73 1.10 4 0 03:45 yes yes Sayonara D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 Very nice GUI on an average+ player; lots of DSP built in, some of which is very useful to a musician (eg pitch & speed control); it does not seem MacOS Linux only to do bit perfect playback though, ? because of all the built in tweaks; Linux 5 5 3 3 5 5 3 4 3 4 4 4.00 0.89 4 0 04:12 no maybe very easy internet radio setup, search & display; Wine Tomahawk D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Tomahawk is a truly unique but abandoned player – it sources music Win10 DID NOT TEST from your files, other T’hawk users & the web via search APIs; download it from Github (see readme page HERE); the Tomahawk website throws MacOS DID NOT TEST security flags in every browser I use & is apparently no longer supported Linux 4 4 2 3 5 5 4 4 3 4 3 3.73 0.90 2 0 08:45 no * or updated; metadata-based search; SQ varies w/ source – ? BP on 44.1 Wine NO LONGER BEING DEVELOPED, SO NOT AVAILABLE FOR UBUNTU 19; TESTED ON 32 BIT 18.04 MACHINE local flacs w/ALSA; VLC D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Win10 5 5 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 3 4 3.73 1.01 3 0 02:50 yes no VLC is a very nice basic player with a nice, simple, easy GUI & quick MacOS importing; my versions still won’t do native DSD or DoP; has a lot of fine video function that’s not relevant to this review; Linux 5 5 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 3 4 3.73 1.01 3 0 02:10 yes no Wine Volumio D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s Nice on SBCs – very light! System runs entirely in RAM; does DSD + tested on Intel PC 3 5 5 4 4 2 4 3 5 3.89 1.05 3 0 23:15 yes yes DoP; Tidal & integrated well; download / burn / install more PC & Pi - intense than most, & the JEOS makes any host device a dedicated image Volumio player; recent PC release works same way on platform; Can includes R Pi 3b+ 3 5 5 4 4 2 3 4 4 3 5 3.82 0.98 3 0 21:45 yes yes use small PC (NUC etc) as dedicated player, but I wouldn’t waste a full OS PC on it. Vox D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s MacOS Win10 Vox is a seriously nice player for Mac; versatile, great SQ at 100% gain w/o DSP; free version is excellent & paid adds great web function + ONLY; + MacOS 5 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 4.45 0.52 5 0 endless yes yes unlimited cloud storage for music; optional iOS app ($) to stream iOS for Linux remotely; DLNA “coming soon” for LAN streaming; Cloud ($) Wine WinMediaPlayer D’nload Install Config Lib Mgt Webstr’m System Reqs Art/Info U/I Flex’y Unique SQ Avg Sdev # of 5s # of 1s WMP is nobody’s friend – but with ASIO or WASAPI set to exclusive Win10 5 5 3 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3.00 1.10 2 0 00:00 yes no access plus good hardware, it’ll play supported formats bit perfectly; I’ve never been able to get WMP to sound as good as Foobar, JRMC, Roon Windows MacOS etc on the same Win machines through the same systems; GUI is ONLY Linux undistinguished & library management is almost nonexistent; forget about high res; Wine

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